France, Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands bought €34.3B worth of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia between 2022 and June 2025. During the same period, these countries’ total aid to Ukraine was €21.2B, according to a Greenpeace study. The EU’s primary LNG supplier is Yamal LNG. From 2022 to 2024, its revenue from gas sales to Europe reached $40B, with about $9.5B going to the Russian Federation. This is enough for Russia to produce 9.5 million 152 mm artillery shells, 271,000 Shahed drones, or 2,686 T-90M tanks. Greenpeace also warns that eliminating Russian energy could increase the EU’s dependence on the US. In the first half of this year alone, the EU imported 52.7 billion cubic meters of LNG from the US. However, long-term contracts with companies like TotalEnergies, Shell, Naturgy, and SEFE will continue to support Russian gas supplies for the coming years.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria has confirmed plans to end Russian gas transit by the end of 2027. As a result, Slovakia and Hungary will lose access to this resource because the last pipeline still transporting Russian gas to Europe, the Turkish Stream, passes through Bulgaria. However, Hungary continues to insist that it will not abandon Russian gas and oil, as Russia is the guarantor of Hungary’s security.